The discovery of new cracks in the emergency pipes of the EDF reactors under maintenance “does not fundamentally change” the expectations of electricity production from the French nuclear fleet next winter, RTE, manager of the high-voltage network, said on Thursday.
“We were already starting from a situation of caution. [ce jour]this does not fundamentally change the vision we have of the winter 2023-2024 ”, declared Thomas Veyrenc, executive director in charge of strategy and foresight within RTE, during a press conference dedicated to the results of last winter.
Several major cracks were detected, including a large one at Penly 1 (Seine-Maritime), in an emergency pipeline intended to flood the reactor with water in the event of a nuclear accident.
thermal fatigue
Other so-called “thermal stress” cracks were also detected in the emergency pipelines “considered sensitive to stress corrosion cracking” at Penly 2 and Cattenom 3 (Moselle).
According to Thomas Veyrenc, the cracks whose existence EDF reported to the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) are “not at all news of the same magnitude as last year when we learned of the existence of the stress corrosion defect”, in October 2021. . .
“When we have more information, we will integrate it into our analyses. But we don’t expect that to change its nature,” he added.
The discovery of this stress corrosion cracking phenomenon gave rise to a large campaign of work and inspections, seriously damaging EDF’s nuclear production, which fell to a record low in 2022.
France, historically a net exporter of electricity, nevertheless avoided blackouts this winter thanks to record electricity imports from its neighbors and a drop in consumption.
More green electricity next winter
As for the availability of the nuclear fleet, RTE stuck to EDF’s less favorable projections. “The September forecast turned out to be correct. In our central scenario, we reach 45 GW of nuclear park availability (out of an installed capacity of around 61.4 GW), and in an optimistic view, 50 GW or slightly beyond,” said Thomas Veyrenc.
For next winter, forecasts will be made public at a later date. France will be able to count on a greater production of electricity from renewable energies, in particular the commissioning of two offshore wind farms that should alone provide a power of 1 GW, equivalent to a reactor, according to RTE.
“It is undeniable that we need to accelerate new sources of production, particularly renewable ones, as it is also undeniable that the availability of the nuclear park continues to be a key factor,” Xavier Piechaczyk, president of the RTE board of directors, stressed to the press. .
Source: BFM TV
